Annie Zaidi's Blog, page 27

अश्लीलता नामक एक चेतवानी

BBCHindi.com पे छपा एक और लेख: 

महाराष्ट्रा में डाँस
बार लौटने
की संभावना
लौट आई
है. सुप्रीम
कोर्ट का
आदेश है
की बार
(यानी शराब-घर) में
नाच प्रदर्शन
पे पाबंदी
नहीं लगाई
जाई सकती.
कोर्ट ने
माना कि
नर्तकी को
बार में
काम करने
का हक़
है, लेकिन
साथ में
ये चेतावनी
भी दी
है - नाच
में किसी
प्रकार की
अश्लीलता ना
हो.


लेकिन ‘अश्लीलता’ क्या है? इसकी क़ानून में कोई परिभाषा नहीं. जैसे ‘लाज’ या ‘इज़्ज़त’

What Moharram is really about - refusing to forget

An extract from a short piece on what Karbala stands for (in my mind) and how the observance of Moharram remains relevant (that is, if we allow it to):

What does a tragedy mean, after all, if we give it a single word - massacre? How do we honour those who are killed even though they do not want bloodshed? They who die must not be reduced to a statistic. They must not be remembered as mere

हिंदी में दूसरा लेख छपा bbchindi.com पे

 हिंदुस्तानी महिला, काम और काम की मज़दूरी पे लिखा ये लेख ज़रूर पढ़िए। टिप्पणी करना ज़रूरी नहीं :

http://www.bbc.com/hindi/india/2015/1...

मकिन्ज़ी रिपोर्ट के आँकड़े महिलाओं का योगदान नहीं बताते, ये बतलाते हैं जीडीपी के ज़रिए आर्थिक इंसाफ़ या हक़ नहीं नापा जा सकता.

मुश्किल ये है कि महिलाओं के श्रम का बाज़ारीकरण नहीं हुआ है. काम तो कर रही हैं. वेतन दे दो,

Why Writers Return Awards

So, this is the second question to ask - why care what a writer says or does?


We care because writers give to a people their voice, their memory, and multiple layers of truth. Even if we do not see our exact selves mirrored in a book or a poem, we still find a part of our collective self. Writers show us a secret tunnel into the lives and minds of people we do not agree with. They incite

bbchindi में छपा लेख

 पहली बार हिंदी में कुछ लिखा। किसी और ने अनुवाद नहीं किया, ख़ुद लिखा, तो अपनी ही पीठ थपथपाने का जी चाहता है।  पहले हिम्मत नहीं पड़ती थी।  आख़िर मेरी हिंदी हिंदुस्तानी है, न कि सरकारी दफ़्तरों की नई हिंदी जो सर पे संस्कृत का भारी बोझ लिए घूमती है, जिसे समझने के लिए आम जनता को किसी अनुवादक की ज़रुरत पड़ती है। लेकिन अब शुरुआत की है तो सोचा है कि हिंदी को फिर से अपनी ज़ुबान पे रखूँ, थोड़े और प्यार के साथ,

Port-Able?

Another graphic piece on what it means that state transport buses don't come right up to the departure gates at airports and even railway stations:

http://mintonsunday.livemint.com/news...

What reading Indian women's memoirs taught me

I had never seen a jail from inside, except in movies. In movies that did feature female protagonists in jail, they either silently submit to their incarceration or got tortured, often at the behest of men, or sexually exploited by men. If they were rescued or reformed, it was because some man came to their help.



Joya Mitra showed me a very different truth. She, along with a few other young

In a 'New Asia'

I'm very pleased to be included in the latest issue of Griffith Review.

'Griffith Review 49: New Asia Now showcases outstanding young writers from the countries at the centre of Asia's ongoing transformation... co-edited by Julianne Schultz and Jane Camens, takes a journey through the region’s diversity, featuring a new generation of literary stars who will shape the way we understand the

On shutting doors, safety and the citizenry

I, coming from Mumbai, was marvelling at something else. We could get into trains in a civil fashion. There were announcements asking passengers to stay away from the edge of the platform and to let passengers alight first. By and large, they did.

In Mumbai, although railways would make half-hearted announcements to this effect, everyone knew that it was a question settled by whether the crowd

There's more than just one kind of Indian

On marital norms in India, and what the mainstream will not acknowledge:



Is it a "good" custom? A bad one? I cannot say. What I can say is that my own view of Indian marriage changed forever at 17. My Sociology textbook informed me that there are eight types of marriage mentioned even in that problematic text, Manusmriti. Among them was "gandharva vivah" - what we call "love marriage".